Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/286

256 unpopular among the Roman Catholics of Lancashire. Soon after the accession of James I. he was knighted, and in August, 1605, he was, at Lord Salisbury's request, appointed Lieutenant of the Tower.

Strict and unpopular as he was as a gaoler, Waad was by no means the sordid villain represented by Roman Catholic writers. He was a man of culture and letters, a promoter of American exploration, and had done some excellent service as a diplomat. He was an ultra-Protestant, and his sincere hatred of Roman Catholicism led him to stoop to low means to extract information from, or obtain evidence against Fathers Garnet and Oldcorne. Having incurred the ill-will of Lady Somerset, the poisoner, he was removed eventually from his post in 1613 (his patron, Salisbury, being dead), and spent the remainder of his life in Essex, and at Hampstead. He died, 1623, at Manuden, Essex.

I print below extracts from certain letters relating to him and his rule in the Tower, which contain matter of much interest and importance (extracted from Number 6178, in the Additional MSS., British Museum). From the letters, recorded below, written by Waad, ample evidence is forthcoming of the strained relations existing between him and Sir Walter Ralegh, and of his